threaten corporate profit = disorderly.

we all exist only to serve the corporate master who pay no taxes and buy our politicians.

For those who cannot read due to paywall / geofencing.

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A retired Penn professor has been blocking Uber Eats robots for months. This week, she got arrested for it

Kristin Hunt

3 minutes

On Wednesday afternoon, Carolyn Marvin was leaving her flu shot appointment when she spotted an Uber Eats robot rolling down the Center City sidewalk. So she did what she has done for months whenever she's had the time: stand in front of it.

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Marvin, 78, said she's not sure how many times she's blocked the path of these robots, which hit the streets of Philadelphia in March. The University of Pennsylvania professor emeritus has made a practice of it to protest "corporations that displace human delivery workers in order to enrich their own bottom line." Her past encounters have circulated online. The Wednesday incident was the first time, however, that the police got involved.

Officers approached Marvin after she'd been there "quite a long time," she said. They asked her to step aside and let the robot complete its delivery. When she repeatedly refused, they arrested her for disorderly conduct.

Police confirmed they had responded to a report of "criminal mischief involving a robot" on the 1200 block of Filbert Street around 1:16 p.m. on Wednesday. A woman on the scene ignored "multiple commands" to move, they said, resulting in a criminal violation notice for disorderly conduct.

Uber declined to comment.

Marvin, who plans to contest the charge on the grounds of her First Amendment right to protest, has been undeterred by the arrest. She plans to continue blocking Uber Eats robots and chatting with curious passersby who ask what she's doing.

"It allows me to talk to people about what's going on," she said. "It's always very interesting conversations that we have, and I think it's good to have those kinds of conversations in public space."

Marvin characterizes public opinion as "divided." Some people are very supportive, she said, while others view her protest as unfair to the customers who paid for delivery. Marvin usually tells them if they're "concerned about money," the robots' impact on delivery workers should worry them, too. She is careful never to block the sidewalk to human pedestrians, she added.

Before Marvin retired, she taught a course on freedom of expression at Penn. She doesn't see her actions as an extension of her academic work, however, as much as civic engagement.

"I would say it's my citizenship," she said. "I'm exercising the rights of my citizenship, so I think of it in those terms."

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Corporation-owned robots have more rights than people it seems

I thought she ignored commands from the robot, but the police came to get her out of the way? Did Uber call the cops on her? Why didn't they ask the cops to deliver the food too? Scrub some Uber toilets?

hero, honestly. if uber wants to fuck with workers, no reason workers shouldn't respond in kind. this is not so different from the luddite response to automation, imo.

Unmanned equipment on a sidewalk that's for humans should get tipped over and left to get scrapped

IDK if they can do stuff about pools being "attractive nuisances" I'm pretty sure fucking with a robot counts as well, Uber should do more to discourage it, maybe they should have to pay for a security escort?

You guys want humans to deliver goods as a job forever? I understand not replacing artists, musicians, etc.